Designing dynamical output feedback controllers for store-operated Ca2+ entry

Store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) has been proposed as the main process controlling Ca2+ entry in non-excitable cells. Although recent breakthroughs in experimental studies of SOCE have been made, its mathematical modeling has not been developed. In the present work, SOCE is viewed as a feedback control system subject to an extracellular agonist disturbance and an extracellular calcium input. We then design a dynamic output feedback controller to reject the disturbance and track Ca2+ resting levels in the cytosol and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The constructed feedback control system is validated by published experimental data and its global asymptotic stability is proved by using the LaSalle’s invariance principle. We then simulate the dynamic responses of STIM1 and Orai1, two major components in the operation of the store-operated channels, to the depletion of Ca2+ in the ER with thapsigargin, which show that: (1) Upon the depletion of Ca2+ in the ER, the concentrations of activated STIM1 and STIM1–Orai1 cluster are elevated gradually, indicating that STIM1 is accumulating in the ER–PM junctions and that the cytosolic portion of the active STIM1 is binding to Orai1 and driving the opening of CRAC channels for Ca2+ entry; (2) after the extracellular Ca2+ addition, the concentrations of both STIM1 and STIM1–Orai1 cluster decrease but still much higher than the original levels. We also simulate the system responses to the agonist disturbance, which show that, when a sequence of periodic agonist pulses is applied, the system returns to its equilibrium after each pulse. This indicates that the designed feedback controller can reject the disturbance and track the equilibrium.